The Bullfight
c. 1890/1900
Eugenio Lucas Villamil
Painter, Spanish, 1858 - 1918
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 73.9 x 109.9 cm (29 1/8 x 43 1/4 in.)
framed: 96.5 x 134.9 x 10.8 cm (38 x 53 1/8 x 4 1/4 in.) -
Accession Number
1954.10.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably Édouard Kahn, Paris; (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 8 June 1895, no. 2); (Goldschmidt).[1] Sigismond Bardac [1856-1919], Paris; (sale, Paris, 1910). (E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris), by 1924;[2] sold 1925 to Baron Maurice de Rothschild [1881-1957], Paris. Arthur Sachs [1880-1975], New York and Cannes, by 1928;[3] gift 1954 to NGA.
[1] The dimensions for this painting and its companion piece, now in the Reinhardt Collection, Winterthur, are almost identical. The Kahn sale catalogue (Catalogue des tableaux par Antoine Watteau, Boucher, Goya, Gustave Moreau, Teniers...Formant la collection K.) contains only one entry for a "course de taureau" by Goya, which is described simply as a "belle esquisse," although it is annotated with a sale price of 2500 francs. Paul Lafond, Goya, Paris, 1902:107, however, not only lists both paintings as being in this sale, but without explanation identifies no. 29 (the NGA version) as the one that sold for 2500 francs. See also the provenance for the companion piece, which is documented by Juliet Wilson-Bareau in her entry on the painting in Sammlung Oskar Reinhart 'Am Römerholz' Winterthur. Basel, 2003: no. 19, 174-177, repro.; note 5 of the entry (p. 174) provides the name of the buyer at the 1895 sale, taken from the procès verbal.
[2] August L. Mayer, Francisco de Goya, London and Toronto, 1924: 181.
[3] Sachs lent the painting to a 1928 exhibition of Spanish paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. See also Jacques Seligmann & Co. Records, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington: Collectors Files, Box 203, Folder 6; copies in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1925
Exposition d'art ancien espagnol, Hôtel J. Charpentier, Paris, 1925, no. 41, repro.
1928
Exhibition of Spanish Paintings from El Greco to Goya, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1928, no. 6, fig. 6.
1933
A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 162.
1996
Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 88-89, color repro.
Bibliography
1902
Lafond, Paul. Goya. Paris, 1902: 107, no. 29.
1903
von Loga, Valerian. Francisco de Goya. Berlin, 1903: no. 547.
1908
Calvert, Albert F. Goya: An Account of His Life and Works. London, 1908: 161, no. 143.
1914
Stokes, Hugh. Francisco Goya. London, 1914: 352, no. 535.
1924
Mayer, August L. Francisco de Goya. London and Toronto, 1924: 181, no. 666.
1940
Trapier, Elizabeth du Gué. Eugenio Lucas y Padilla. New York, 1940: 48, pl. 24.
1947
Lafuente Ferrari, Enrique. Antecedentes, coincidencias e influencias del arte de Goya. Madrid, 1947: 230-231.
1948
Adhémar, Jean. Goya. New York, 1948: 22, pl. 111.
1956
López-Rey, José. "Goya and His Pupil María del Rosario Weiss." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 47 (1956): 282.
1960
Evans, Grose. Spanish Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Ten in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 40, color repro., as attributed to Goya.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 321, repro., as attributed to Goya.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 61, as Attributed to Goya.
Gudiol y Ricart, José. Goya. New York, [c. 1965]: 164, color repro. 165.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 53, repro., as Attributed to Goya.
Shickel, Richard. The World of Goya, 1746-1828. (Time-Life Library of Art.) New York, 1968: 162-163, color ill., as Attributed to Goya.
1970
Gassier, Pierre, and Juliet Wilson. Vie et oeuvre de Francisco Goya. Paris, 1970: 356-357 (also English ed. 1971: 356-357).
1974
Walker, John. Self-Portrait with Donors: Confessions of an Art Collector. Boston, 1974: 146-147, repro.
1975
Koella, Rudolf. Collection Oskar Reinhart. Neuchâtel, 1975: 346.
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 160, repro., as Attributed to Goya.
1977
Glendinning, Nigel. Goya and His Critics. New Haven, 1977: 124, 321, n. 5, fig. 36.
1981
Arnaiz, Manuel José. Eugenio Lucas. Su vida y su obra. Madrid, 1981: 474, no. 342, color repro. p. 101, no. 84.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 404, no. 563, color repro., as Attributed to Francisco de Goya.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 185, repro.
1990
Brown, Jonathan, and Richard G. Mann. Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1990: 88-91, color repro. 89.
2003
Wilson-Bareau, Juliet. Entry for "Eugenio Lucas Villamil, zugeschrieben, Corrida." In Sammlung Oskar Reinhart 'Am Römerholz' Winterthur. Basel, 2003: no. 19, 174-177, repro.
Wikidata ID
Q20190106